Baca's mission? Ballet

Local Soldier's Iraq Trek, From Bullets to Ballet
by Pia Catton, The Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2012

Iraqi artists address painful realities

Vivid Canvases of Iraq’s Pain Redo Art but Conjure Resistance
by Jack Healy, The New York Times, June 18, 2011

War dance

In ‘Into Sunlight,’ Horrors of War, Depicted in Dance
by Karin Lipson, The New York Times, April 8, 2011

Iraqi refugee artists in Jordan

Iraqi Artists, Actors and Designers Try to Build New Lives in Jordan
by Rana F. Sweis, The New York Times, March 23, 2011

Gutierrez takes action

Miguel Gutierrez’s 24-Hour Dance of Solidarity
by Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times, December 29, 2008

"Black Watch" closing Sunday

Farewell to one of the finest productions I've seen this season.

In ‘Black Watch,’ a Band of Brothers With Camaraderie Forged on the Boards
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, December 16, 2008

My commentary on "Black Watch"

Performing freedom

[Note: The following information contains an updated list of participating artists, current as of December 24.]

On December 31, artists across the nation will perform freedom of information 2008: a 24-hour performance/protest/ritual, initiated by choreographer Miguel Gutierrez in response to the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Participants will engage in continuous movement improvisation performed while blindfolded and ear-plugged, which is intended as a contemplative act of solidarity with those displaced by the wars.

This action takes place over the last 24 hours of 2008, from midnight to midnight of December 31st. It ends with the ringing in of the New Year. At present, there are 29 artists participating in freedom of information 2008. Each artist will perform the action in her/his respective state and during the 24 hours that correspond to December 31st in his or her time zone. Miguel Gutierrez originally performed freedom of information alone on December 31, 2001, in response to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. This time, inviting artists from across the country creates a nationwide, synchronous event.

freedom of information 2008 involves staying in one room for the duration of the event. Moving continuously for 24 hours throughout the space of her/his choosing in a sensory-deprived state, the performer meditates on the dislocation and disorientation of those who do not have the basic right of being safe for the duration of a single day, who instead must be continuously on the move because of the threat of violence.

freedom of information 2008 is free and open to the public in each of the venues that the artists have selected. Throughout the 24 hours, people are invited to come and go as they please, watching the participating artist as they attempt to fulfill the simple but rigorous demands of this action.

For more information on the preparations and locations for this event, click here.

The event has been initiated by Miguel Gutierrez, a choreographer/performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Gutierrez is an award-winning artist whose evening-length pieces tour internationally. For more information on his work, click here.

Gutierrez will continue to identify artists to participate in this action throughout the month of December. As of December 24, here are the participating artists for freedom of information 2008:

Alabama – Rhea Speights
Alaska – Kyli Kleven
Arizona – Aileen Mapes
Arkansas--Malinda Allen
California – Jesse Hewit
Colorado – Lily Brown-Johnson
Connecticut – David Dorfman
Florida – Heather Maloney
Georgia – Diana Crum
Hawaii – Brianna Skellie
Illinois – Marissa Perel
Iowa – Amanda Hamp
Kentucky – Ben Asriel
Maryland – Sharon Mansur
Massachusetts – Jesse Zaritt
Michigan – Marlee Cook-Parrott
Minnesota – Morgan Thorson
Montana – Harmony Wolfe
New Hampshire – Gregory Holt
New Jersey – Joshua Bisset
New York – Miguel Gutierrez
North Carolina – Janice Lancaster
Ohio – Lena Lauer
Oregon – Tahni Holt
Pennsylvania – Jung-Eun Kim
Tennessee – Layard Thompson
Texas--Daniel Adame
Vermont – Selene Colburn
Virginia – Zap McConnell
Washington – Tonya Lockyer
Washington, D.C. – Maida Withers
West Virginia – Katherine Ferrier

In New York, Miguel Gutierrez will perform freedom of information 2008 at The Barn, an independently run dance studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (ilovebarn.com)

In New York, Miguel Gutierrez will perform freedom of information 2008 at The Barn, an independently run dance studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Go see "Black Watch" now!

Great news!

The return run of National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch, at St. Ann's Warehouse in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, has been extended through December 21. This rivetting, deeply-moving production explores the contemporary experience of a Scottish regiment deployed to Iraq and that regiment's renowned history.

I was knocked out by the imaginative, powerful staging and performances and, while writer Gregory Burke, director John Tiffany and every single contributor should be highly praised, let's give a standing ovation especially to Steven Hoggett, NTS's associate director for movement. Movement is an integral, essential, magical aspect of the storytelling in Black Watch and, as movers, the eleven actors could not be better.

Hurry and get your tickets!

The Turning World (9)/Dance on Camera

"I think it's important to know the world you're living in and that not everything is wonderful. That is very important to me."

--Pina Bausch in Pina Bausch, a 44-minute documentary by German filmmaker Anne Linsel (2006), part of the 2008 Dance on Camera festival, which runs through January 19 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center

The Linsel film is a rich opportunity to watch quicksilver intelligence dancing across Bausch's face as she talks about her experiences and her creative process. Only her declaration of innocence--that she never intended that her work would provoke people--seems dishonest. Her works and her dancers' extraordinary performances speak for themselves, and there are tantalizing bits and pieces shown. One more thing: for this fairly recent visitor to Venice, the Venetian settings for the dancers' German-language interviews proved entirely too distracting from the English subtitles!

In Horizon of Exile (2007, UK), filmmaker/choreographer Isabel Rocamora sets two dissociated women alone amid the golden expanse of the Chilean desert. These dancers supposedly express the experiences--of longing for the homeland, of searching for one's true self--of four Iraqi women exiles interviewed by Rocamora. Often hypnotic in pacing, the 22-minute film devolves into tediousness and, in the passage where the women gasp and thrust, an unfortunate silliness. Overall, the movement ideas look obvious. A woman stands, her black burqa buffeted by wind and sand; later, she slowly rolls in the sand. Bodies crinkled up like burnt wood. After the screening, one of the dancers told the audience that the Iraqi interviewees were very moved by the film and saw their reality in it. Whether this film can reach beyond this--and beyond its stark visual seductiveness--to connect with an audience in a meaningful way remains open to question.

For more information on program schedules, click here. For ticketing, click here.